YES PAINT only started a year and a half ago, but my brother Walter and I aren’t new to the paint and hardware industry. We used to work for a big corporation in a family-owned branch. Unfortunately, when the big box stores arrived in Anchorage, Curtis and Campbell couldn’t compete on price. They wound down the business and let go of all employees, including Walter and me.
Soon after the shop's closure in 2021, Jason Smith and Steve Ramsey from Yes Enterprises approached us about opening a paint store. They had a vision to expand Yes from its strong foundation in flooring to include paint. Walter and I had never considered opening our own store, but we loved Jason and Steve’s energy and their hunger to grow. We said yes to Yes!
Through 27 years of hard work in the industry, Walter and I had built a following of customers much larger than we realized! Though it hasn’t even been two years, our customer account list is already in the triple digits. We believe the main reason for our growth is customer service. We're always joking with our customers. We like to give hugs, handshakes, dap, and all that good stuff around here.
In addition to customer service, the other big factor in our success is Rundoo. For our first eight months in 2022, we were using a legacy software system. It had all sorts of problems, the biggest being poor support. When we had questions, not only could we not get an answer, but we also knew the product would never improve. We told our Benjamin Moore rep about our frustrations, and he introduced us to Nick from Rundoo.
When I first met with Rundoo, I immediately loved their vision. Rundoo was built from scratch specifically for guys like me—paint store managers in 2023. They were listening directly to what paint stores needed, laser-focused on making my job easier. Other companies have a product, and you have to work around it. Rundoo works around us.
Once we signed on, Rundoo moved our products, customers, and historical sales over. The first major benefit hit me right away: the system is incredibly easy to learn! For example, my 17-year-old daughter recently started working with us part-time. She had never used a point-of-sale system before, yet she learned Rundoo on her own on her first day. With our old system, training took months, which is honestly what I expected. But not with Rundoo. And it’s not just the young folks—our entire team picked it up quickly, definitely within a week. In fact, I think our staff genuinely enjoys using it day to day.
The best thing about Rundoo is its constant improvement. Comparing Rundoo today to the initial system I saw in December 2022 is like comparing night and day. The team constantly takes feedback and enhances the product. For example, Rundoo recently introduced improved product sales analytics. These insights have greatly boosted my purchasing confidence, giving me a much better sense of the stock I can expect to sell in the coming months. It’s hard to explain just how much Rundoo has made my job—and life—easier.
I have one last story about Rundoo’s vision. Nick and Joe from Rundoo came to Anchorage to help us set up for go-live in January 2023. Once Rundoo was running smoothly (after just two days!), I took them to Thursday Night at the Fights, an Anchorage boxing series, followed by dinner at a local brewery, 49th State Brewing. At the end of the meal, Nick pointed to the restaurant's system and explained that it was called Toast—a one-stop-shop software for restaurants that powers online ordering, waitstaff tablets, kitchen displays, payroll time clocks, and nearly everything else.
He then said, “That right there is our goal—to transform paint stores the same way Toast has for restaurants.” I believe they will do it!
